Fudgy Coconut Ladoo. Vegan Indian Dessert Recipe

Dussehra is just around the corner! As with every Indian festival, there are several stories around why it is celebrated and several ways to celebrate it depending on region as well. Read more about it here.

Every year, we try to keep up the cultural celebrations, and there is always this fear that eventually all will be forgotten. The nuances of each and every Pooja, the stories, the decorations, the customs etc tend to get lost with the generations. Also, with the change in our dietary choices, the discussions and celebrations tends to affected as well. Every year, I try to recreate vegan versions of some Indian sweets so if anyone is visiting, I have something to offer to them apart from fruits :). And we can continue to discuss the festivals, stories etc without getting into why we choose to not eat something or don’t we miss eating some name delicious sweet!

This year I add another Laddoo to the repertoire. This Coconut Ladoo is has shredded coconut, coconut milk, sugar and whole cardamom. Thats it. No oils, no long list of ingredients. They come together quickly and get eaten up quickly too. Happy Dussehra everyone!

“Most farmed animals are starved for hours, even days, as they are being transported to slaughter. In remembrance and solidarity with their tremendous suffering, lets join across the world in a Fast Against Slaughter on October 2nd.”

I will fast as much as I can that day. No food and my balance do not work very well together.

Grind or blend 2 cups coconut flakes in a blender or processor to make small powdery flakes. Blend a few short cycles, move the coconut around and pulse more to avoid making coconut butter. Pound the cardamom seeds in a mortar and pestle to break into a coarse mixture and mix with the coconut.

Heat the coconut milk in a small skillet at medium heat. Add oil, sugar and salt and mix in. Bring the mixture to a bubbling boil (about 4 mins). continue to boil for another 4 minutes or until the mixture can form a half thread. (220 to 225 deg F temperature). Take off heat.

Immediately add 1.5 cups of the shredded coconut and cardamom and mix in. Add the coconut flour and mix in. If the mixture appears too wet, let it cool for a minute, Then add more shredded coconut 2 Tbsp at a time. Do not add more than 4 Tbsp else the laddoos will be dryer. The mixture becomes less wet as it cools. Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes then shape into balls by picking up 1 to 2 Tbsp of the mixture, pressing and shaping with one hand. Roll the ball in the remaining shredded coconut and serve. Cool completely before storing. Store in an airtight container on the counter for upto 3 days or refrigerated for a week.

Recipe Notes

**Do not wait too long to shape the laddoos, as the mixture hardens as it cools.If you are not fond of cardamom, use other flavors like cinnamon or saffron.Use more shredded coconut if you do not have coconut flour.

I love learning about Indian festivals from your blog posts! And that is super exciting about putting together a print cookbook – that has been a dream of mine for years (not quite there yet though!). Can’t wait to try your coconut ladoo, I hope I have enough shredded coconut in the cupboard to make it today, it’s making my mouth water already!!

Coconut milk shouldn’t curdle. if it curdles, then there is lemon or other ingredients in your pan or spatula or something. If you make coconut kheer, taste wise it would taste like coconut milk. yes you can use other oil instead of coconut oil.

you can use white sugar. White sugar is refined sugar, which is generally refined using animal bone char, so vegans try to avoid that. raw sugar is granulated sugar that is not as refined. it tastes somewhere between jaggery and white sugar. since it comes in granulated cyrstals form, i grind it is to use wherever the texture needed is that of white sugar or powdered sugar.

you can use molasses instead of the jaggery syrup. Use less molasses and more coconut, add a tbsp molasses at a time, mix well, add more, mix, till the coconut mixture comes together. it will taste very molassey and the balls will be sticky. So coat them well in more coconut.

Hello Richa. Thank you so much for sharing your vegan Diwali mithai recipes. Tried to make the coconut ladoo today but couldn’t form the mixture into balls. It was v crumbly and disintegrated in my hands. Did I not boil the coconut milk & sugar for long enough? Any suggestions will be appreciated!…can I rescue the mixture I now have?

the coconut milk mixture might have gotten over cooked and the sugar might have gotten candied. or the coconut was a bit old and hence too dried. Yes you can rescue them. Boil another 1/4 cup coconut milk with 1 Tbsp sugar. Also keep the coconut ladoo mixture at low heat. When the coconut milk comes to a good boil, add half to the coconut mixture. Mix over low heat until the liquid gets absorbed and the mixture gets lumpy. Add more coconut milk if needed. Take off heat. Let it cool till warm to touch, then shape.

Hi Richa. Thank you for your suggestion to rescue the coconut ladoos!…it worked!…& we’re now able to munch our way through the end result which is yum!…you’re right…I think the coconut I used may have been old & hence too dry. Maybe worth adding that as something to note at the end of the recipe?…thanks once again. Shivani

But I would love to explore if you can make this without any sugar at all. I’m doing a sugar free diet, so no sugar replacers either. So I wonder if the taste can still be nice. Coconut by itself is already so flavorful. Or is it too difficult to get the consistency right. Thanks for your suggestions 🙂

1/2 to 1 tsp. Start with 1/2 as it depends on your preference of flavor and the freshness of the cardamom. If the flavor isnt strong enough, you can add more ground cardamom to the shredded coconut you will use to roll the balls in.

Hi Richa, You are like my GoTo website these days…cos my son is supposed to have a GFCF diet for some months atleast. I am an Indian and tried your Coconut Ladoos with Jaggery. They were lovely and he gobbled them up very fast. Thanks for posting these recipes:).

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